In lieu of doing another video, I took a chance to practice my writing (with a dictionary but without a translator!)
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With Persian, I have continued to work with my instructor and language group members to form conversations based on present and past happenings. Having picked up some new vocabulary and verb structures, I am able to form a wider array of sentences and respond to simple questions.
The words shood meaning, it happened, and shawad meaning, it will happen, are infinitely useful in talking about the present and future. For example, the sentence ‘It rained yesterday’ would be deruz baran (rain) shood.
To increase my knowledge of Hebrew vocabulary and gain an increased familiarity with spoken sentence structure, I watched the film Alila, produced by Amos Gitai. Below are the verbs I picked up through watching the film:
to agree--להסכים
to regret--להצטער
to get, receive, accept--לקבל
to teach-- ללמד
to travel--לטייל
to rush--למהר
to wait—לחכות
to try—לנסות
to show-- להראות
Below I have attached a video I made with a few common greetings, farewells, and introductions in Persian; in Dari, specifically:
I filled out this worksheet and gave it to my brother who already knew a few Farsi phrases from Islamic school ( 15 years ago). He had a hard time writing his name, which is "Khalid Mohammed Hart." The main issues were the full and half forms of letters. I tried to make the worksheet basic, but the alphabet is a bit much to pile on I've learned. He almost spelled "chips" correctly in Farsi and did spell "chai" correctly. If I had to make another worksheet, I would just focus on the alphabet. I would make whoever is filling it out write the alphabet over and over. The best way to learn,in my opinion, is through repetition.
I stumbled across this Farsipop artist. His name is Ali Lohrasbi. The music had the feel of Latino pop, maybe channeling Marc Anthony, J-Lo's ex husband. I thought the similarities were pretty intriguing and I have posted a song below.
I am not sure what the name means exactly, but I will post as soon as I find out. I do know that this song has something to do with the meaning of love based on YouTube comments.
Lohrasbi also has a Facebook fanpage ( http://www.facebook.com/Ali.Lohrasbi.Music).
He sounds very emotionally connected in all of the songs that I have listened to, which is a nice contrast from American music these days. I wonder if Susan has heard of this artist and if she has, does she like him. It would be interesting to hear her preference when it comes to Farsipop versus pop in the U.S. I will definitely ask about these things tomorrow and update if possible.
I once took a global music class, so music in different countries is awfully intriguing. I find that a greater emphasis is placed on lyrical content and instruments are used more often than in the U.S.,where we have autotune or computer-created beats. I really do appreciate this take on music because that is how it should be.
Also, I want to do some research on how much music is censored in the Middle East. I doubt anything political can be incorporated without the artist being reprimanded. That is the complete opposite from the U.S. where people mention Obama and Bush all the time in lyrics, specifically rap artists.
I think music is a powerful outlet to voice any opinions and the question is how subliminal does one want one's messages to be?
Goals for Weeks 4 and 5
Susan taught us many verbs and how to conjugate them for each subject. We learned the past tense of each verb and the present/future tense. The verbs are listed below:
To Come: امدن
To Go: رفتن
To Do: کردن
To See: دیدن
To Write: نوشتن
To Study: خواندن
To Buy: خریدن
To Sell: فروختن
To Sleep: خوابیدن
I want to memorize all of these verbs, so I can be more fluent in conversations during Farsi practice.
I plan to look over my notes and write out each verb, so that I have a better chance of memorizing each verb.
I will evaluate my success by trying to hold a conversation using these verbs without having to constantly look at my notes or ask Susan for help.
My topic for my cultural presentation is the Misconceptions of Afghanistan: In the
Eyes of a Young Adult. I was inspired to pursue this topic in talking with Susan about visiting
the country and safety concerns. It is deeply ingrained in the minds of most Americans that
Afghanistan is a dangerous place to be and your safety is always a major concern. The
media always shows bombings and never the reality of life in Afghanistan to natives. I want
to focus on finding the truth on daily life aside from preconceived notions. I will make this
topic relatable by limiting it to young adults and a daily routine for a young adult in
Afghanistan. I will talk to Susan and maybe find another native to connect with to get a
varying viewpoint. I want to compare and contrast young adults’ lives in the U.S. and
Afghanistan. Are there malls? Do people go to concerts and movie theatres? Is college an
important factor? What colleges are the best and are they in safe areas? What are the
common aspirations for young adults in Afghanistan since Americans have the “American
Dream?” What are common jobs in Afghanistan? People in America look down on people
working in fast food, since Afghanistan has a KFC, does it have the same social stigma?
My learning goals are highly cultural when it comes to this topic. I hope to answer all of
these questions and more. Also, I would like to incorporate Farsi into my presentation, so I
will learn some important phrases regarding this topic.
Goals for the semester
Meet with Susan two times a week (Monday & Friday from 10-11a.m.)
Each goal is bulleted instead of organized by week because I am in a class with newer learners,so activities may vary.
- Learn Basic Farsi sentence structures (Subject + Noun + Verb)
- Learn how to form my own sentences in Farsi (basic)
- Learn compound sentence structures incorporating Dari phrases from handout
- Learn how to tell locations ( basic directional phrases)
- Learn how to say my favorite items
- Learn how to say what I like/love/do not like/do not love
- Learn how to negate verbs ( add “nun” to beginning of each phrase)
- Learn the past, present and future tense of verbs
- Discuss what I did over the weekend/ what I plan to do this week
- Review days of the week/learn how to refer to months
- Learn about Farsi New Year ( completely different structure from America)
- How to say interesting facts about myself
- How to say what I am studying and my year in school
- Ask questions regarding all of the topics to other Farsi speakers
- Learn more about culture in Iran/Afghanistan
Week 1
The first week of class I spent looking into new resources to use for the Korean language learning. My goal was to try out a few different resources to see what helped the most. I found that youtube was a great resource so that I could listen to native Korean speakers. The Before You Know it application was great for memorizing words also. Diigo is a useful tool for bookmarks, but I probably won't use it as much as the other resources. I often study by making note cards so that is a technique I will most likely use often. I filled out the Language Partner Questionnaire and will look forward to meeting my new partner.
My goal for this week is to start learning basic Korean words that will come in handy no matter what the situation is. I learned that yes and no have several different forms depending on the formality. I will look further into differences in formality as a goal for next week. I'm still getting used to all the resource I have been signing up for. We learned a few interesting tools in class for recording voices. These will come in handy for the artifacts. I have not had a chance to meet with my language partner yet. The Korean language learners have a unique situation where there are two language partners that we could be meeting with. We are trying to find times in everyones' busy schedules that will work out best.
Week 2
I had my first class with my language partner, Joon Kim. We decided to meet Wednesdays and Sundays at 7pm. I started to study the writing system of Korea. It is called Hangul and is made up of 14 consonants and 10 vowels. They combine to make new "characters." I want to memorize the sounds associated with each character soon so that I can pronounce more words. I made note cards to do this. The hardest part is that the sounds do not necessarily reflect a letter in the English alphabet. One character makes a sound between an R and an L making it very difficult for me to pronounce. I'm also having difficulties with all the vowels because many sound similar to me. The note cards are less effective than I thought because I need to hear the sounds of each character and not just read it. I found a lesson on youtube that I watch for additional help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djB05a4ntQ4
This was much more effective than the note cards. My language partner was also helpful in reiterating the sounds of each character and to practice with.
Week 3
I looked further into the differences of Formality and Informality this week. I learned that there is a huge difference in formality depending on what age a person is. One must ALWAYS be formal with someone that's even just a year older than them. Joon Kim was telling me about the way birthdays work in Korea. It seems confusing, but from what I understand, everyone has their own birthday, but they consider themselves one year older on the Korean New Years. A common way that most words became formal was adding "yo" to the end. The more formal phrases were usually longer or just had additional words added on to the informal phrases. A lot of my learning just came from researching the topic online. I learned several words while doing this which will help me get ahead for next week when we study greetings. Joon Kim also put two textbooks on a USB drive so that I can research more information through that as well. My first language tasks this week were to learn the alphabet and greetings, farewells, and introductions. I continued to use the same methods as last week to learn the alphabet. I practiced writing more also. Each character is written a specific way whereas I would normally just write it the way that seems the quickest. I researched why it was supposed to be done a specific way and learned that it would help later when combining the letters into the characters they can form. Joon taught me many greetings and also helped me figure out what greetings are most commonly used. I hope to learn things that will be most beneficial when traveling in Korea so if no one uses a certain phrase anymore, I would rather focus on other words.
Week 4
This week's goal is to learn more conversation topics that go along with introductions, greetings, and farewells. Small talk can cover a variety of topics so I tried to learn what would be most interesting and useful for when I travel and meet people. I also like to learn things that I can ask my grandma at home. I used the textbooks on the USB for more information and they were really helpful. I just have trouble memorizing all the phrases. I make flashcards often and have to practice so I don't forget it the next week if I move on to a different topic. Flashcards help me evaluate my success because I can test myself until I get it right, but at the same time, I'm afraid of forgetting the information so I want to look into other ways to learn. I found an iPhone app that is similar to flashcards and the BYKI software. It pronounces the words so I think that hearing it helps me learn it easier. Our first artifact is due so I'm making something I can use in real life. I made my grandma a birthday card and sent it to her. In order to do this, I had to learn the formal ways to say Happy Birthday and other things like "I miss you" and "I love you." I researched what common birthday cards would say and found a lot of information. Joon Kim also taught me that it is normal to wish someone a year in good health so I learned how to say and write that as well.
Week 5
I took out a bunch of blank paper and practiced writing letters. I combined consonants and vowels in all the possible combinations. I downloaded an iPhone application where you practice writing by tracing the letters. This helped a little, but it was not as effective as just practicing writing over and over again. My learning goals for week 4 and 5 went well. I learned a lot, but there is always more to learn with the greetings, introductions, and farewells. Some phrases are used less often than others so I tried to narrow my learning to master the most commonly used phrases. My writing has improved greatly in just two weeks. I went from looking at the Korean writing system and thinking it was going to impossible to understand to being able to combine all the consonants and vowels in less than two weeks. I'm proud of this accomplishment. My artifact of a birthday card with a greeting to my Grandma was very appreciated. I am glad she could understand everything I wrote. I am going to continue writting letters to her for the practice and she can help evaluate them.
Week 6
The language tasks for this week are to ask questions about identity and to also talk about your own family. I learned that there are different ways of calling people depending on formality/age. The same person will either be called one of two names depending on if the person speaking is older or younger. It is a form of respect to identify someone correctly. I learned how to say what I am doing or what I already did. The form of the sentence stays the same, but now there are just many verbs and nouns to learn that you can insert into the sentence. I'm learning the words that I would use most like I am going to class, I am hanging out, etc. When someone asks you a question, the response usually involves repeating the question. A question and statement differ by the tone of voice you use. If it is a question being asked then the voice will get higher as opposed to a statement where the voice generally stays the same pitch. I determined that my culture project will be about weddings. I wrote about that in a cultural post.
Week 7
I used this week to review a lot of the things I already learned. It's difficult to remember the things I learned in the beginning so its always good to review. I practiced by reorganizing my notes and rewriting the notes into a more organized form. This is a study technique I often use because when I rewrite things, I tend to learn it faster than just looking at the words. Since my first artifact was a card that I wrote to my grandma for her birthday, I chose to make my second artifact a recording of a conversation between my mom and I. I will post this on the website next. The conversation entails saying hi and asking how each other is doing. We talk about going out to lunch at a korean restaurant and incorporate telling time.
I attempted to teach my grandma about the contrasting things in American versus Korean idioms. She has been in America for about 15 years, and she is relatively well-spoken in English. However, she always has trouble understanding idioms and figures of speech because they differ so much from Korean ones, and over the years, she has taught me Korean idioms. I thought it would be appropriate and long overdue for me to return the favor!
My learning plan consisted of analyzing a few Korean idioms and phrases and then translating them into English. More often than not, there was a comparable American expression. In that case, I would teach her that phrase by connecting it to what she already knew in Korean so that it could stick with her more easily.
A few common Korean idioms:
1. refers to being glutinous
2. something appearing to be better than it is
3. in a bad situation, getting worse
4. the power of being positive
5. being lied to three times
I found the parallels in those idioms with these following English phrases:
1. eyes bigger than your stomach
2. grass is always greener on the other side
3. up a creek without a paddle
4. the silver lining
5. fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me
Although these are just a few, it was INCREDIBLY difficult conveying these to her because of the figurative language. For someone who speaks English as their second language, putting new meaning to already unfamiliar words is confusing and can be silly. She was able to retain a few, but mostly she remembered the funny part of the phrases and forgot the rest. So when I ask her about the idiom referring to the bad situation getting worse, she can remember it has something to do with a paddle but not much else. It's okay, we tried!
During this past week, I worked on creating my second artifact for Hindi, which was in two parts. In the first part, I video-taped a conversation that I had with my language partner about identity, family, and some of her favorite foods -- basically a culmination of what I had learned in the past few weeks (I had just begun to learn foods, however). She also asked me questions about myself, my sister, and basically just about our lives.
For the second part of my artifact, I wrote out questions that I thought would be good conversation-starters to discuss identity, and I also wrote a paragraph about my family and described them. (Please see blog entry entitled "Hindi Artifact #2" for my artifact).
During this past week, I also did two lessons from the GLOSS Foreign Language Center's website. One was called "The Meeting: A Casual Conversation on the Street," and it provided reading/vocab practice for getting to know a stranger. The second lesson was "To My Grandmother," and it was about a letter written to one's grandmother. This activity gave me reading/writing practice with learning the different family relationship vocabulary, as well as expressions that are related to respect (especially respecting those who are older).
The topic of family is extremely important in both Jewish and Israeli culture. The background of Jewish history of assimilation, diaspora, and persecution, makes being Jewish a very familial thing. This summer I will be doing research on the Former Soviet Union and immigration for religious freedom to the U.S. and Israel. From the conversations I've had these people were scared to be publicly Jewish, and thus religion was something that was only shared among family. I feel like this culture of familial importance and emphasis has spread to Israel. Since Israel is an immigrant nation, people arriving in Israel not only spoke different languages, but brought with them different ideals and and practices. While over time Hebrew and an Israeli culture dominate, Israelis still hold close to them the unique traditions of their families and pass them on throughout the generations. For me, as a child of mixed ethnicities (ashkenazi and sephardic), I can very much appreciate and mesh these differing values from my both my mother and father's families.
I spent this week studying political cartoons and the meaning behind them. While those on Ha'aretz.com that I've been looking at are only in Hebrew, I found a lot in my searches that were in English. I believe part of the message in them is targeted to be persuasive to a wider audience and educational on political views in Israel.
Below is an interesting one:
While much of international media portrays Israel as overly aggressive against Hamas, and Hamas as unorganized and terroristic, this cartoon portrays the two as equally destructive to one another, both bleeding, both baring their teeth, and both hiding behind sunglasses and finally proud of their cause by wearing the drums.
The chapter on Sociocultural Factors had a number of interesting points on language learning and experiences outside of ones own cultural background. The first one that I could really relate my academic work to was the section on linguistic imperialism. In modern day, English is accepted as a universal language, however this is not a concept that was just born one day. Over years of imperialism and colonialism, English speaking nations have dominated the global arena not just militarily and economically, but through the spread of language, ideology, and values. These latter ones thus undermine the native culture and norms with the domination of Western ideals. I think this is extremely important to consider today as Westerners plan their travels and recognize the value of learning about the behaviors and culture of the country they are visiting rather than expecting to be accommodated in English by people who have adapted to Western culture. Being in Israel, all street signs are posted in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. I have never stopped to think how it must feel as an Arab or Israeli to have all three languages. On the one hand, this promotes tourism, however, on the other, it undermines the value of having a distinct and unique culture. This leads to the question of the Whorfian hypothesis of whether a language reflects a world view or whether it shapes one. I believe that there is truth to both, however, as an international studies major I can argue the latter better. I think the Cold War struggle of containment/liberation between communism and democracy was very much at the same time a struggle between different ways of life and understandings of the world. Much of the rhetoric used in the Cold War served to export these ideologies by promising a better standard of living. You started seeing personal televisions, bathrooms, and later cell phones, valued in societies that were no where near as developed in infrastructure or economy to necessitate these commodities. I think that the topics above are a perfect representation of the "Stage 3 of Culture Shock" discussed in the chapter. The exciting euphoria of Stage 1 wears off once people realize that the language has thus also channeled a cultural discourse away from one's native cultural values and associations.
Koreans are a very focused and hardworking group of people. I've heard things here and there about how stressful the Korean lifestyle can be whether you are a student studying in school or an office worker. Students sometimes study for about 18 hours a day. Adult employees tend to work overtime. Not just sometimes, but most of the time. There's something called Korea's "palli palli" culture. "Palli" or "빨리" means hurry. Interestingly enough, this isn't just a phrase, it is a way of life. You'll often hear people say the phrase "palli palli," telling someone to hurry up or to go faster. It seems that Koreans are always in a hurry to catch a bus or train, etc. Koreans are normally on time or even early for things. Their attitude toward time seems to be an obvious one. The phrase "time is of the essence" comes to mind. As Americans, we can relate. We've tagged time with the value of money. I guess Koreans have as well, but I feel they've taken it a step further.
Where did this mindset come from? From what I've read, it comes from the condition Korea was in after the Korean War. At the time following the war, Korea was left in a poverty-stricken state. Self-preservation was extremely important to them. Only a few decades ago, Korea was one of the poorest countries. Now, it has the third largest economy in Asia. Their initial need for survival and growth ignited the flame, their desire to get back on their feet. This "palli palli" culture contributed to said goal and has now become embedded in Korean society. Only in 50 years, Korea has come so far thanks to this mindset, but is the stress level taking a toll on them yet?
Attitudes about time in India are incredibly interesting! Growing up, my parents would always joke about "Indian standard time" whenever we would leave to attend an Indian function that was supposed to start at 6...and didn't end up starting until 7:30. In India, many people view time in a relaxed way -- as something that does not have to be strictly adhered to, such as an "appointment at 7:15 pm," for instance. This attitude can even be seen in just observing the way people live life in India. Often, you will see neighbors or friends sitting outside and having tea, or hanging out at the nearby tea/fruit juice stand, as though the time passing by didn't matter at all -- after all, they are enjoying the time with a close friend. At first, I liked this attitude because I felt as though it provided people with a sense of appreciation for the "little things" in life -- dinner with family, drinking tea with a friend, and more.
However, after I spent more time in India, I honestly became somewhat frustrated by these attitudes, because I felt as though things would run a lot more smoothly if they ran on time. For example, during a vacation with my friend, I had to leave a day earlier to go back to our home city. I asked the hotel staff to arrange a taxi for me at 8:15 am (my train left at 9:30 am, and the train station was literally a 10-minute drive away -- but it was raining immensely). I figured that I would be at the station an hour in advance at most -- and considering "Indian Standard Time," I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. The next morning, 8:30 passed, and there was no sign of the taxi. 8:45 -- no taxi. I make sure that the hotel staff called the taxi driver. 9:00 -- the taxi driver comes...45 minutes late! Since it was monsoon season, there was a huge downpour and a LOT of traffic, especially in the mountains (where I was) -- making our normally 10-minute drive about 25 minutes. I get to the train station at 9:27 am and sprint to my train...just in the nick of time. Although it sounds fine now, it was terrible because I was incredibly worried about the time AND my own safety in a car that was driving fast along very slippery roads!
Thus, although Indian attitudes about time aren't always the same as my personal preferences of being on time (or at least 5 minutes early :) ), I've come to realize that sometimes, it's best to just accept differences as intricacies of the culture, and move on...and attempt to be early. :)
Topic: Reflect on "Culture Shock"
I really enjoyed watching "Culture Shock," because the film gave me a chance to see UR and American customs through the lens of someone who might not be quite familiar with certain parts of American culture. I thought it was very interesting especially to see how others might view body language or certain American expressions -- things that I had never really thought about before because I was born and raised in Virginia. For instance, one female student remarked that hearing the phrase "The movie was nice..." was different from "The movie was awesome!" and she utilized that difference as a way to explain how frustrating it was when Americans would not directly criticize the movie, but would implicitly remark upon it by saying it was just "nice" (with a particular tone).
As a student who has studied abroad, the film also reminded me of my own experiences in India, especially when one of the speakers talked about the different phases of adjusting to a different culture, like the "honeymoon phase" or even when a person talks with other foreigners about how life "over there" is better than what they are currently experiencing. For instance, I remember a particularly bad day in India where it just felt as though everything was going wrong -- I couldn't buy a train ticket without being rerouted to five different people, I couldn't figure out how to bargain for something, and people expected me to know how to speak the local language. Often, talking to a friend is the best thing to do, or even just being busy and knowing that the day will pass -- just as one of the female students said when she talked about her first few days at UR, filled with orientation activities.
I also found it interesting to listen to how students adjust to the American college system, particularly at UR -- especially if their home country or home institution has a culture in which quietness and acceptance are values that are emphasized, rather than free discussion.
I do wonder how UR students could help make the process of cultural adjustment easier for international students. Maybe we could have some type of volunteer program to help ease the transition?
The "Culture Shock" video offered an informative perspective from international / exchange students here at the University of Richmond. Some of my closest friends here are international students; however, a topic such as culture shock does not often arise in our conversations.
When I first met most of my international friends, in the beginning of my first semester here, I never considered their transition to life in America. I might ask something like, "How do you like America, so far?," but I did not really take into account how much their lives have probably changed in those first few weeks. I assumed that since many of them spoke English or went to English-speaking school that they were at least exposed to American culture, in some form.
From watching "Culture Shock" to my experiences with the international students, I do not think most UR students--myself included--ever take the time to realize how much harder being in Richmond can be for them. I believe most of us tend to assume that the international students do not want to interact with the Americans on campus, but it seems apparent through my experiences, and even more so through "Culture Shock," that the only people on campus that can truly understand the transitional period and issues of international students are other international students. In my opinion, I think it would be beneficial for the university to develop some type of program / orientation to not only allow the international students to adjust, but also the American students to adjust to being in classrooms and interacting with those of other cultures.
Hello!
My second artifact is in 2 parts. The first part is a videotaped conversation between me and my language partner. I am asking her questions about her identity, hobbies, family, and background. She is, in return, asking me questions about myself/my family as well. Before our conversation, I came up with ideas for questions (based on what I have learned from "Teach Yourself Hindi" and "A Door into Hindi") to ask someone about their life (hobbies, favorite food, etc), and I scanned the page in.
The second part of my artifact is a written description of myself and my family members, including their hobbies, favorite food, etc. I also recorded a similar description to this in the attached file.
The audio link: Hindi Artifact 2, Part 2 -- Describing Others
The text: (says Description of My Family at the top)
This week I’m beginning to learn how to express events that previously happened in Persian. To accomplish this it is necessary to be able to name days of the week.
Luckily, Farsi/Dari has a relatively intuitive way of naming days of the week. With the exception of Friday (jama) every day is formed by adding a numerical suffice to Saturday (shanba) for example, Sunday and Monday would be (yek shanba) and (do shanba) where yek means ‘one’ and do means ‘two’.
To form a sentence, one could use a subject, day of the week a direct object and a past-tense verb to form a complete thought. For example, man se shanba senf raftam, meaning, I went to class on Tuesday.
With Modern Hebrew I am continuing to work on reading and understanding simple text. Below I have copied a narrative passage I can now fully pronounce (somewhat correctly) and understand in terms of meaning. (I apologize for the poor quality)
